Home is Where the Heart is
by Naleyfan12
Summary: set about 10 years after Goodbye to Camelot. This the story of Joey Doherty. Kim,Jimmy and Joey were 3 of my favorite character's. I used to write about Kim and Jimmy but wanted to try my hand at something a little different.
1. Freshman Year of College

Title: home is where the heart is

Disclaimer: i own nothing

I did create the Character of Dani, she's Jimmy's little sister and DK's wife and I created her kids Lilly, Addison, Rachel and JJ and DK's daughter Meg.I also created Kim and Jimmy's youngest child Lexie.

At 18 years old, 6'3 and 215lbs, with dark hair, gorgeous brown eyes, and dimples to match Joey Doherty was definitely his father's son. Joey was currently a freshman in college playing Lacrosse at Syracuse University. He had inherited his father's love for sports but had a nag for things other than baseball. He also knew one day he'd follow in his father's footsteps, but had promised his mother he'd go to college first. When Joey had told his mom and dad about Syracuse they couldn't have been more proud of him. Their oldest boy was making a name for him-self and was living out a childhood dream of succeeding in sports. Joey was far enough away at school that he could home if he wanted to but he rarely chose to do so, so anytime he did Kim was just glad he was home. It was spring semester and Lacrosse season so Joey hadn't been home since winter break and had stayed in Syracuse for spring break.

Easter weekend.

Jimmy had taken the day off on Friday to drive up for Joey's game, he tried to make it to as many as he could, most of the games were in Syracuse so that had made it easier despite the 4 hour drive each way.

"Good game Champ, so your mama wants to know if you're coming home for Easter" Jimmy asked.

"She misses me that much"Joey cracked as he lifted his bag onto his shoulder and the 2 walked out of the dome together.

"Doherty" One of the guy's shouted, hearing his name Joey turned his head to see Mike one of the seniors on the team about 10 feet behind him.

"Yeah Mike" Joey asked.

"A bunch of us are going to my house for Easter this weekend if you want to join us just hit me up tomorrow" Mike said.

"Thanks Man, but I think I'm gonna drive home and surprise my mama" Joey replied.

"Alright well if you end up staying in 'Cuse the offers still there" Mike said as he headed out to his own car.

"alright well I'll let you know" Joey said as Mike nodded.

"your mama would love that, i'll probably drive home tonight to throw her off, and she'll enjoy me being home while I'm off, then the next game I can make it to is the 16th I couldn't get off time for the ones between now and then" Jimmy mumbled.

"It's alright dad I understand, and you really should be home on your off time to, mom, Kevin and Lexie need you" Joey replied

Yeah I know, and by the way your sister misses you" Jimmy replied.

"I'm sure she does" Joey said as he put his bag in trunk and then leaned against his car waiting for his roommate Derek.

"you drove over here" Jimmy questioned.

"I always do you should know that by now" Joey said as Derek finally emerged from the dome. "took you long enough, where are Kyle and Jake" Joey asked

"On their way out" Derek said.

"You 2 have plans for tonight" another player named Brandon asked.

"Homework" Joey replied.

"Sleep" Derek said as their 2 teammates finally came out of the building. "Let's go you goons, I have an online test due in like 2 hours" Joey mumbled as his friends threw their bags in his car.

"I'll meet you back at your dorm" Jimmy replied.

"See you in a bit" Joey said as he got into his Cavalier.

"Man you're so lucky that your dad comes to games" Jake mumbled.

"Yeah but I wish my mom did to"Joey replied.

"You're a mama's boy we know" Kyle replied.

"Nahh,I just have younger siblings at home who can't miss school" Joey replied as he thought about his 10 year old Brother and 4 year old sister.

10 minutes later back at Flint Hall.

"Alright buddy, I should head out I'd like to make it home before 3 am" Jimmy replied.

"alright I think I'm going to head down early Sunday morning, make it home by 8 for church" Joey said flashing his trademark Doherty grin.

"She'd love that Champ" Jimmy replied.

"Yeah I know she would, but hush" Joey replied.

Later that night

Derek is passed out in his bed and Joey is finishing his test when there's a knock on their door.

"It's open" Joey called out as he hit submit and turned in his Geology test.

"Your still up" Timmy Joey's RA asked stepping into the room.

"yeah for now I'm about to shower and knock out though,I have to do homework all day tomorrow so I can drive to Brooklyn Sunday morning and then Back here Sunday night" Joey said.

"You're going home" Timmy asked.

"Yeah my mom misses me and I need to see my brother and sister" Joey replied.

"I'm sure they miss you, you haven't been home since winter break right" Timmy asked.

"Right I had a couple games during spring break so I stayed here I had 1 at the start of break and 1 toward the end of break but my dad took time off and was at both games so I got to see him"Joey replied.

"Nice, looks like Derek's out for the night" Timmy cracked glancing at Joeys roommate who was passed out in Scooby doo boxers.

"Yeah he usually goes down first, I'm only up cause I had a test" Joey mumbled.

"Alright well I figured I check in since the light was on" Timmy said.

"Have a good night man" Joey said as Timmy let himself out and Joey got ready to shower.

The next morning

"So what's your plan for the day" Derek asked when he came back from his morning run.

"Hush I'm reading" Joey growled under his breath. He had been reading for foundations of human behavior for almost 2 hours and still didn't understand it.

"Sorry" Derek mumbled. "Dude shut up" Joey spit annoyed. It was nearing 10 o'clock and he was incredibly grouchy from getting up to start his homework at 6am,and knew as soon as he finished reading he'd need to crash, take a short nap and then hit the books again

"Great someone's Pissy, I'm going to shower and split for the day if you're going to be here doing work" Derek spit back.

"Where you going" Joey asked.

"I'll probably hit up the library and then I'm going to Matt's" Derek said.

"I'm not trying to be a jerk dude, it's just this semester is killing me so bad" Joey mumbled

"It's cool man" Derek said.

As Joey continued to study his phone rang "call from Mama" "call from mama"

"_Hey mama" Joey said as he answered his phone and closed his book._

"_Hey my handsome eldest" Kim replied._

"_How are you today" Joey asked. _

"_So far so good how about you" Kim asked._

"_Meh I've been up since 6 reading for Foundations of human development" Joey said as he moved from his chair to his bed._

"_Eww, so how are classes" Kim questioned._

"_Rough I had an online test for geology last night ,and I have eco test on Tuesday, an accounting test on Wednesday and then a Nutrition test on Thursday this week and a human dev test on monday" joey replied._

"_Midterms" Kim asked._

"_No Mid-terms were before break, and I don't want to talk about them" Joey commented._

"_Joe, if you're not doing well in classes because of Lacrosse then maybe you shouldn't be playing" Kim quipped._

"_It's not Lacrosse at all mom I can handle everything it's just my classes are tough" joey growled._

"_Alright then well I just thought I'd check in on my favorite oldest" Kim replied_

"_I'm your only oldest" Joey laughed._

"_Yeah sometimes I think your father is one of my kids" Kim quipped as Joey erupted into laughter._

"_alright mama well I better get back to my studies, I'm going to read for a bit longer and then crash and hit the books again" Joey replied._

"_Love you" Kim replied._

"_Love you to" Joey said hanging up._

After taking a much needed nap, Joey hit his textbooks for another few hours, and then met up with Derek, Jake and Kyle for dinner at Graham hall.

"So what time are you leaving in the morning" Derek asked.

"3:30, I'm meeting them at church as a surprise" Joey said.

"Dude you should just come to Matt's" Jake replied.

"Nahh man I need to go home" Joey commented

"You better not wake me up" Derek mumbled

"I won't" Joey replied as he glanced at his watch, it was nearing 9pm and he wanted to get some sleep before his drive home.

3:30 in the morning

Joey rolled over at the soft buzzing of his cell phone and climbed out of bed. He quickly changed into Jeans and an eng 55 t-shirt, even though his dad no longer worked at the 55 his Aunt and Uncle did so he had a bunch of shirts. The next thing Joey did was pull his Rescue 2 hoodie over his head and then grab his clothes for church. He could stop at the firehouse and change on his way.

3 and half hours later

Joey pulled into the visitor's lot at engine 55 and grabbed his clothes from the back seat of his cav. He glanced at his watch 7:15 that gave him exactly 45 minutes to get changed at make it to the church for the Easter service.

"Can I help you" a fireman asked.

"Yeah is Lieutenant Kitson working" Joey asked.

"DK you have a visitor" the guy yelled toward the back of the bay door and Joey then saw his uncle appear.

"What are you doing here" DK asked.

"Came down to surprise mama" Joey replied.

"She'll love it" DK replied.

"Can I go get changed I got to be at church in 45 minutes" Joey replied.

"Yeah go, and say hello to your Aunt while you're up there"DK said as Joey nodded and ran toward the stairs to go get ready for church.

"Hi Aunt D"Joey said as he sprinted past his Aunt who getting ready to head home after a long night shift.

"Hi Joey" Dani replied not even realizing her nephew had just walked by. "Joey" Dani questioned.

"I'm surprising mom" Joey called back as he slipped into his dress pants and Button Down before tying his fire engine tie.

"You look handsome, now go surprise your mom she'll be so excited" Dani said as Joey nodded and headed downstairs.

"Looking good kid" DK said.

"Thanks crud it's 7:30,I got to go so I don't hit traffic"Joey mumbled as he ran toward his car.

8 am on the dot-St. Gregory's Church

"Excuse me, Excuse me, Excuse me" Joey whispered as he made his way through the crowd of people to get to the pew where his family was. "Hi Mama" Joey whispered taking the aisle seat next to kim.

"Joey"Kim gasped a huge smile crossing her face as the service began.

"Happy Easter" Joey whispered.

"You to you little sneak" Kim whispered.

"shhh" the old lady in front of them cracked turning her head at them.

After Church

"Joey" Lexie shrieked noticing her brother.

"Hey you" Joey said picking Lexie up.

"I like your Tie" Lexie said.

"Really it's actually dads" Joey replied.

"You have my fire truck tie" Jimmy asked. Raising an eyebrow as Joey looked over and realized his father was wearing the same one.

"This is the one you gave me because you had 2"Joey replied.

"It is your right" Jimmy replied.

"Where'd you park" Kim asked.

"At the firehouse" Joey replied.

"You got your visitor pass" Jimmy questioned.

"Yeah it's in the window of the car"Joey replied.

"You want a ride to your car" Kim asked.

"Yes please" Joey replied as they made their way to the car.

"How long are you staying" Lexie asked.

"Just for the day" Joey replied as he squeezed into the back seat next to his younger brother.

"Aww" Lexie whined.

"Girly goo I have school tomorrow" Joey replied.

"Don't you have a test" Kim asked.

"For my online class" Joey replied.

"So then stay tonight" Kim suggested.

"Mama I have class at 8 am tomorrow morning" Joey replied.

"Eww" Jimmy replied.

"So where's Easter dinner" Joey asked.

"Aunt D and Uncle Derek's" Jimmy replied.

"Sweet" Joey replied.

"Meg's in town, and Lilly's home" Jimmy replied.

"Nice" Joey said as they pulled into the firehouse visitors lot and he got out of the car.

"Are we going straight to Uncle Derek's" Joey asked.

"No home first to change" Jimmy replied.

"Sweet I can't wait to get out of this shirt" Joey mumbled fussing with the buttons on the sleeves.

"You never liked them as a kid either" Kim replied.

"Well if you wore a dress shirt and tie for school every day would you" Joey cracked.

"Probably not" Kim replied as she watched her oldest losen his tie and then take off his dress shirt so he was just wearing a wife beater. Joey then reached into the back seat of his car and grabbed his engine 55 shirt.

"Like father like son" Kim laughed as Joey got in his car and then followed his parents to the place that had become his childhood home.


	2. Freshman Year Part 2

Here's Chapter it's a continuation of the first chapter

Disclaimer: i own nothing

I did create the Character of Dani, she's Jimmy's little sister and DK's wife and I created her kids Lilly, Addison, Rachel and JJ and DK's daughter Meg.I also created Kim and Jimmy's youngest child Lexie.

"No one told me you were coming home to" Lilly said when she saw Joey taking his shoes off at the front door.

"I'm only here for the day, I have to drive back to school tonight I have class at 8am"Joey said as he his 4 year old cousin JJ ran over to him.

Joey's face lit up with his trademark smile when he realized that JJ was handing him a a toy fire truck. "I haven't seen this one before Buddy is it new" Joey asked as he sat down on the floor with his cousin.

JJ nodded in response and then took off to his bedroom. "I got this one to" JJ said handing Joey an Ambulance.

Joey examined the Toys and realized that the new fire truck had rescue 2 on it. "This is just like Uncle J's truck isn't it" Joey asked as JJ nodded.

"It's a repla truck from the Easter bunny" JJ said as he took the fire truck back from Joey. "Want to come play fire trucks" JJ asked standing up.

Joey really wanted to spend time with everyone and his grandparents had just arrived but he gave in and decided to follow JJ. "Yeah bud I'll play fire trucks for a little bit" Joey said.

"Sweet, I got a new SUV like Uncle Billy's last week Kara gave it to me" JJ said Joey nodded and smiled. Joey took in the sight of his youngest cousin's bedroom as he sat down on the floor. Much like Joey had when he was a kid JJ definitely loved Fire trucks and Ambulances to. "You can play with this one if you want" JJ said handing Joey a ladder truck.

"Thanks little dude" Joey said smiling.

A few minutes later Grandma Donna came in to say hello. "your mom thought I could find you up here how's school going" Donna asked.

"School's great I love Syracuse" Joey replied.

"That's good and this is a nice surprise having you here your folk's didn't say you'd be home" Donna commented.

Joey handed JJ the ladder truck back and stood up from his spot on the floor and responded" I drove home to surprise my mom"

"Well that was nice of you when do you have to return to school" Donna questioned as Joey sat down on JJ's fire truck bed.

Joey just nodded in response as he watched his cousin play happily.

"You okay Joey" JJ asked wondering if something was wrong with his cousin as they watched Donna retreat out of the room.

Joey sighed and looked down at his cousin, "Yeah Bud I'm alright just thinking about how much I miss being home while I'm at school"

JJ just nodded and went back to playing with his toys.

"Are you hiding from everyone for a reason" Dani questioned poking her head in.

"Nahh just spending time with JJ" Joey said.

Dani nodded and then looked down at her youngest. "J, have you shown Uncle J your new truck yet".

JJ looked up at his mom and shook his head, "Nahh not yet do you think he'll like it" JJ questioned.

"Go show him I'm sure he will" Dani responded as she sat down next to her nephew. "Grandma said you seemed a little down"

"I'm fine Aunt D, just realizing why I don't like to come home, makes me realize what I miss when I'm not here" Joey mumbled

"Alright just checking in on you my favorite nephew" Dani replied as she stood up.

"Smell's good" Joey mumbled as he to stood up and then followed his aunt downstairs.

Later on back home

"Mama I should get going I want to make it back at a decent hour" Joey yawned.

"Hunny if you're tired maybe you should stay" Kim

"I really need to head back I have class tomorrow" Joey groaned from his spot in his father's recliner.

"I wish you were home more" Kevin grumbled.

"Me to Kev, me to if you were a little older I'd offer to bring you to school with me but maybe next year"

"When will you be home again" Kevin asked.

"In May when the semester ends" Joey said as he got up from Jimmy's chair and retreated up the the stairs to grab some clothes.

"Don't you have clothes at school" Jimmy questioned

"Yeah but these are clean" Joey said as Jimmy shook his head and Joey continued to rifle through his dresser draws.

"Do your laundry" Jimmy replied.

"I do my laundry" Joey said as he sat down on his bed and looked around the room that he had pretty much grown up in. When Joey was 8 years old his parents had moved into together remarried and had Kevin.

"You miss this place" Jimmy questioned.

"Oh yeah so I was thinking you only need a year of college to join the academy right" Joey questioned

"Yeah bud you do" Jimmy replied.

"Would you be mad if I chose that over finishing college" Joey asked.

"Absolutely not but I think you should finish school, it won't hurt to have that degree" Jimmy replied.

"I'm not going to use it anyway" Joey mumbled.

"Then change your major, and finish school I don't want you going to school for something you don't like" Jimmy commented.

"Your right" Joey mumbled.

"Alright Champ it's getting late you should head out" Jimmy commted as he glanced at the fire truck clock on the wall.

"Thanks dad for being a parent and not a friend this time" Joey replied as he set the pile of clothes down he was holding and hugged Jimmy.

"Anytime Champ" Jimmy said with a nod hugging his son back.

Joey then headed downstairs and said goodbye to everyone before driving back to school

4 hours later just after midnight

"How was home" Derek asked briefly looking up from his book.

"It was good" Joey said as he pulled his jeans off and threw on a pair of basketball shorts.

"You know we have morning practice right" Derek questioned.

"What" Joey asked as he crawled into his bed and dove under the covers.

"Yeah 6 am at the practice fields" Derek replied.

"When did coach schedule that" J oey asked as he reached for his phone and began to check his calander.

"April fools" Derek replied.

"Jerk" Joey mumbled as he drifted off to sleep.

The rest of the semester flew by pretty quick before Joey knew it Lacrosse season was over, and the semester had ended.

End of finals week

"So you excited to live elsewhere next year" Derek asked.

"Yeah it'll be a good change" Joey replied as reached into his dresser and pulled out a stack of t-shirts.

"So you're definitely coming back right" Derek questioned as he also began to pack.

"Yeah that's my plan anyway, graduate from college and then join the FDNY" Joey replied.

"So why not just join now" Derek asked.

"I promised my mom I'd go to college first" Joey replied as he filled a duffle bag with clothes

"Think that you'll keep that promise" Derek asked.

"If I don't she'll kick my butt" Joey replied.

Moving out

The Saturday after finals week Jimmy and DK drove up to help Joey move out of his room.

"Holy stuff kid" DK commented eyeing Joeys room.

"My car's already full to" Joey said.

"Jeesh you have enough sticks" DK asked eyeing Joey's Lacrosse bag, that had 4 sticks sticking out of it.

"Always need to have extras" Joey replied.

"Kind of glad Addison played soccer and the girls swam" DK replied.

"Your Brother's playing this spring" Jimmy commented.

"Finally" Joey said as he walked over to closet and grabbed another stick.

"That your good one" Jimmy asked.

"It was till I broke it" Joey replied as he put the stick in his bag.

"Alright so what goes down now" DK asked.

"Whatever's left" Joey mumbled as he moved another plastic tub full of shoes.

As Joey reached for another box Jordan one of his friends from the team stopped in "your still here, I thought you moved out yesterday".

"Nahh man I loaded my car last night this is the last of it Derek moved out yesterday though" Joey replied as he picked up his Lacrosse bag and then another box and started for the door.


	3. Sophmore Year of college

Disclaimer: I don't own anything except:

I did create the Character of Dani, she's Jimmy's little sister and DK's wife and I created her kids Lilly, Addison, Rachel and JJ and DK's daughter Meg.I also created Kim and Jimmy's youngest child Lexie.

Sophmore year

Joey and Derek had decided to room together again,and this year they lived in Lawrinson hall. They had decided to live there because of it's close proximity to the Carrier Dome.

"Ughh I wish we could just live off campus" Joey whined in disgust as his neighbors blasted music and the fish bowl on his desk vibrated.

Derek looked up from his book and nodded in agreement, "Who lives over there" Derek mumbled pointing at the wall with his thumb.

"I think a couple girls" Joey replied.

Hearing that Derek turned his head and raised his eyebrows, "we should go make nice with the neighbors".

Joey shot Derek a look and rolled his eyes, "how about you go make a fool of yourself, I'll stay here and do home homework".

Derek just smiled and stood up from his desk. "I shall return with 2 girls for us to hang out with"

Joey once again just shook his head, Derek was relentless sometimes.

Next door

"Hi Ladies" Derek said knocking lightly on the open door.

"Hi" one of the girls replied.

"I'm Derek I live next door with my friend Joey, we were wondering if you two would want to hang out" Derek asked trying to play it cool and not look dumb.

"Sure we'd love to" one of the girls replied as her roommate shot her a look.

It took the girls a few minutes before responding "Nikki we don't even know them".

"Oh get over it Jenna let's go" Nikki said practically pulling Jenna out of her bed.

Jenna rolled her eyes t her roommate before finally agreeing and following Derek.

Back in the boys room

"Joey Meet Jenna and Nikki" Derek said as they all walked into the room.

"Hi" Joey said flashing his trademark smile and dimples and closing his textbook. "someone can sit up on my bed if they want".

"I will" Jenna said taking up Joey's offer and sitting on his bed. "you know someone who's a fire fighter" Jenna asked Noticing the FDNY blanket on Joey's bed.

"My dad" Joey replied.

"Nice" Jenna replied.

"Yeah I'm going to follow his footsteps someday" Joey replied.

"Really" Jenna asked.

Joey nodded "that's my plan".

The 4 new friends watched a movie and just hung out till it got late and the boys both wanted to go to bed.

2 weeks later

Joey and Jenna were getting close but were still just friends and Derek had decided that Nikki wasn't his type so he had given up altogether.

"Man find me a date would you" Derek whined from his spot on his bed.

Joey grumbled in response and rolled over, "I'm sleeping some of us have a 4 hour drive ahead of them"

Derek didn't say anything back he just closed the book that was open on the bed next to him and reached over and shut off his lamp. It was getting late and he felt bad for waking Joey up since he was planning to drive home in the morning. It was Lexie's 5th Birthday.

330 am

Joey rolled over as his phone buzzed beneath his pillow, He thought about sleeping till 6 and then driving home but he wanted to be home early enough to spend a lot of time with his little sister. A few minutes later he gave into the buzzing and climbed out of bed trying to be quiet and not wake Derek, Joey quickly grabbed the bag he had packed the night before and then slipped out of the room.

He made it home to Brooklyn around 8 am because he had hit traffic, and gotten stuck trying to get to his house.

Jimmy looked up from his chair hearing the front door open, and saw his oldest make his way inside "Hey Champ".

Joey set his bag down and took of his sneakers and his coat before looking in his dad's direction "Hey".

"Everyone else is still asleep" Jimmy mumbled as Joey nodded and made his way to the stairs "I need to sleep for a little bit, Derek was up till midnight so I only got like 3 hours of sleep last night"

Jimmy nodded "go get some sleep Champ your sister will be excited to find you in your bed when she wakes up"

Joey nodded and tip toed up the stairs, once in his room he dove underneath the covers and fell into a much needed slumber.

An hour later

Lexie peaked into her older brother's room and saw that he was home from college. She then took the opportunity to wake him the only way she saw fit. Lexie stepped back a couple feet and got a running start pouncing on her big brother as he slept peacefully. "WAKE UP"

Joey groaned upon feeling the impact of his little sister and cracked an eye open "morning to you to Lex"

Lexie smiled and then decided to be an evil little sister taking Joey's blanket's off one at a time.

This sent Joey over the edge a little bit "Lex knock it off I'm awake" Joey then reached for the blanket his little sister was holding and took it back.

Lexie reached for the blanket and Joey gave her a warning look "get up and watch Scobby Doo"

Joey sighed realizing he was fighting a losing Battle he sat up in bed. "how about we watch Scooby Doo in here".

Lexie shook her head, "we can't Daddy took the remote to your TV away because I was sneaking in and watching cartoons at night".

Joey shook his head at his little sister. "Give me a few minutes Lex and I'll be downstairs".

Lexie smiled knowing she had won, "okay Big brother". Lexie then took off out of Joey's room and he climbed out of Bed throwing on a pair of "Orange Lax" shorts and a t-shirt.

Once downstairs Joey found a spot on the couch and Lexie curled up with him to watch Cartoons.

Jimmy took in the sight of his oldest and his youngest and smiled at the sight of them. Of his 3 kid's they were closest. Kevin and Joey were pretty close to but nothing could beat the the bond Joey shared his with his little sister. As he watched them Jimmy thought back back to when they had told Joey they were having another baby.

Flash Back

_Joey looked up from his dinner plate he'd been cautiously playing around with his food for the last 10 minutes trying to come up with something to say "Another baby are you crazy"._

_Jimmy looked up from his own plate of food, "no it was a surprise"_

_Joey continued to play with the carrots on his plate, "how is that a surprise"_

_This time Kim spoke "because this was totally unplanned Joey"_

_Joey nodded "yeah and so was Kevin" Joey then got up took his plate to the sink and grabbed his Lacrosse stick and took off out the back door._

_Jimmy watched his son and shook his head, "He's a teenager he'll come around"_

_Kim nodded and looked over at her youngest who seemed totally unphased by the scene that had just unfolded in front of him. _

_Meanwhile outside _

_Joey had a bucket of Lacrosse balls and was shooting them at the net in the backyard._

_Jimmy stepped outside and watched him for a few minutes, "you feel any better"_

_Joey didn't respond right away he just reached into the bucket of balls and grabbed another, there were probably 15 balls sitting on the ground inside the net, "who said I was upset"_

_Jimmy just rolled his eyes, sometimes his boy could be as stubborn as he was himself, "I just know something's up, is it more than what we just told you"_

_Joey reached for another ball and tossed it at the net, "Hanna and I broke up"_

_Jimmy nodded "well your only 14 Joe so how long could it have lasted"_

_Joey reached for yet another ball "she kissed another boy"_

_Jimmy hung his head and instantly felt for his son, "I'm sorry buddy"_

_Joey shook his head, "don't be it's not your fault"_

_Jimmy nodded "so you excited"_

_Joey nodded and walked over and began picking up the lacrosse balls "I guess"_

Present time

"What's on" Jimmy questioned.

Without turning their heads both kids responded "Scooby Doo"

Jimmy just shook his head and laughed a little "where's Kev"?

Again without turning both kid's shrugged their shoulders

Kim walked in from the kitchen with a cup of coffee and smiled at her husband and kids "he's still sleeping"

Jimmy nodded "you two want Breakfast"

This time Joey turned to acknowledge Jimmy, "I stopped at Dunkin Donuts on my way into the city so I'm good for now"

Lexie looked at her father and her face lit up, "will you make pancakes"

Jimmy nodded as he made his way to the kitchen "whatever you want Lex it's your day"

Lexie then jumped off the couch and followed her father into the kitchen, "can I help"

Jimmy nodded and pulled a stool over to the counter, "of course you can"

Joey soon joined the two in the kitchen, "I see I've been replaced, you know Lex I used to help out with the pancakes, and Kevin did to"

Jimmy smiled a little and reached for another spoon, "you haven't been replaced Champ never will be"

Pretty soon all 3 kid's were in the kitchen helping with Breakfast, Lexie was mixing Kevin was pouring the mix on to the pan and Joey was flipping the pancakes.

Kim who had been reading a book in the Living room walked into the kitchen ad smiled "somethings never change do they"

Jimmy turned at the sound of her voice "no they don't, Lex be careful your getting batter everywhere"

Lexie giggled and then put her pancake batter covered hand up onto Jimmy's face, "but you love me anyway"

Jimmy nodded and reached for a paper towel, "that I do little lady, but let's get you all cleaned up before Mama has a fit" Jimmy wiped his face and then picked Lexie up and set her on the clean counter before reaching for another paper towel to clean her face and hands with.

Kim just smiled and then walked back to the living room to finish her book.

It was moment's shared in the kitchen like this that made Joey love coming home from school for weekend visits.

Joey reached to flip a pancake just as Kevin accidently doused him in Pancake Batter, "Kevin you have got to be kidding me"

Kevin looked up at his be other as he pulled the spoon back, "sorry Joey"

Jimmy just shook his head and handed Joey a paper towel, "you know you kid's really are something else"

Lexies party was later in the day, it was Disney Princess Party, "Joey put this on" Lexie was holding on to a silver Tiara with pink rime stones

Joey rolled his eyes and scowled at his little sister, "no way Lexie-Loo"

Lexie looked up at her brother and gave him a puppy dog look.

Joey shook his head, "sorry kid your big brother will do a lot of things but not that"

Joey then wandered over to where his Aunt and Uncle were standing, "she failed eh"Dk questioned.

"That she did Uncle Derek" Joey replied.

"How's school"DK questioned.

"Ehh it's school it's alright" Joey mumbled.

DK nodded "your dad says he thinks you have a new girl"

Joey shook his head, "man I don't know yet, we're still getting to know each other" Joey replied.

DK nodded "where's she from", as Walsh wandered over.

"Long Island" Joey replied.

Walsh and DK both nodded, "nice where about"

"Massapequa actually" Joey replied.

DK nodded "small world"

Joey nodded in response as one of the little kid's nearly tripped over his foot.

"Careful Shiloh" Lavine called out.

The little girl caught herself and nodded at her mother.

Lexie enjoyed her birthday party and was glad that Joey got to be home for it. The next day after Church Joey headed back to school. He was going to leave Sunday night but realized he had homework to do.


	4. Jen meets Kim Jimmy-sophmore yr pt 2

Title: home is where the heart is

Disclaimer: i own nothing

I did create the Character of Dani, she's Jimmy's little sister and DK's wife and I created her kids Lilly, Addison, Rachel and JJ and DK's daughter Meg.I also created Kim and Jimmy's youngest child Lexie.

AN : We don't know when Joey's birthday is,atleast I don't think we are ever given a date so I chose to make it valentines day for my story

Sophmore Year part 2

Spring semester

Joey fished through his pocket's for his room key's,it was early febuary and the snow was fallinghard in Syracuse. Not finidning his key's he began to bang on the door to his and dereks room. While Joey had class everyday 8 to 11 straight, Derek had class from 1 to 4 everyday. They had drasticly different schedules and Derek enjoyed sleeping in till noon.

A few minutes later the door opened and Derek gave Joey the stink eye, "again man"

Joey just shook his head, "it's 11:15 you should be up for the day already,I accidently left my keys in here this morning, Shane had to come down and let me in the building.

Derek grumbled and crawled back into his bed to get anther hour of sleep while Joey quickly changed into Jeans, and sweatshirt before putting his coat back on and making sure he had everything he needed to go meet Jenna for Lunch across campus at the Kimmel Student center. The two had been dating since November and things seemed to be going really well. Joey had met some of her family over winter break and she had met some of his but neither had met the others parents yet.

Joey quickly made his way to the Kimmel center because it was cold outside and he couldn't drive over being he didn't have a place to park his car.

"Babe you look like an icicle" Jenna commented as Joey took his coat off and put on a chair at the table she was at.

"It's mad cold outside, so what are you thinking" Joey nodded toward the different places to get food.

"I think I'm going to get Pizza"Jenna said as she stood up and adjusted the FDNY hoodie she was wearing.

Joey cocked an eye brow at her seat shirt and nodded, "When did I give you that, I'm going to grab something from Dunkin Donuts I haven't had any breakfast yet"

Jenna furrowed her brows and shook her head, "I borrowed it yesterday, and why didn't you eat this morning"

"Babe I have class everyday from 8 to 11"Joey replied.

Jenna nodded and headed toward Sabarro "right I forgot so when tomorrow are we leaving"

Joey headed toward Dunkin Donuts and flashed her his trademark grin dimples and all, "as soon as I get done with class we are in the car, my mom has all sorts of plans for us tomorrow like as soon as we get there".

Jenna nodded as she ordered her Pizza and watched her boyfriend of 4 months order his breakfast. She hadn't met Kim or Jimmy yet but could already tell that they were nice and caring people. They had definitely done an amazing job raising Joey.

The next morning the 2 headed to Brooklyn for the weekend. Joey hadn't gotten to go home for his birthday freshman year but Jimmy had come up for a game so he brought him a heart shaped cake and his birthday gifts.

"Ughh and I thought the drive to Massapequa sucked" Jenna whined from the passenger's seat.

Joey took her hand in his free one and rolled his eyes, "it's not that bad Jen, it's that the roads suck"

Jenna just nodded and closed her eyes; she wasn't the best at riding in cars.

Finally home

Joey glanced over at Jenna who was asleep in the passenger's seat as he pulled into the driveway of his childhood home, "Jen we're here"

Jenna slowly opened her eyes to see a large brick home with a black equinox in the driveway, "Some-one's home"

Joey looked up puzzled, "yeah except that's not my mom's car"

Jenna nodded and followed Joey toward the front door, he had both of their bag's one on each shoulder.

"Mama" Joey called out as he turned the front door knob and walked in with Jenna at his heels.

"Joey Happy Birthday" Dani said from the kitchen.

"Aunt D what's going on and thank you" Joey asked.

"Your parents are with your brother at the Hospital, he got hurt at school, slipped on ice and broke himself" Dani explained.

Joey nodded, "what'd he break"

"His arm,it didn't look pretty, he told your dad he and one of the boys were messing around and he fell" Dani replied

"Sounds Like Kev" Joey replied.

Dani nodded, "Lexies upstairs playing your parents asked me to stay until you got home"Dani replied as Joey's cell phone rang "call from Dad" "call from Dad" "call from Dad".

"_Hello" Joey said _

"_Hey Champ, Happy Birthday we're on our way home" Jimmy said._

"_Thanks and How's Kevin_" Joey asked.

"_Sore but alright" Jimmy replied_.

"_Is he broken" Joey questioned_

"_4 places" Jimmy replied._

"_Ouch" Joey said._

"_Yeah he's upset but he'll be alright" Jimmy said._

"_We just got here" Joey replied._

"_Alright well we'll see you soon,Mama says stay out of the fridge" Jimmy said_

"_I will, bye dad" Joey said hanging up_

"_Bye Champ" Jimmy said_

Joey hung up his phone and smiled a little, "they're on their way home oh Aunt D this is Jen, Jen this is my Aunt D"

Jenna smiled at the older women who was about eye level with her, "Jenna Mathews"

Dani smiled and shook her head "I give hugs, Dani Kitson, but you can call me Aunt D" Dani then hugged Jenna.

Jenna smiled and Hugged Dani back, "nice to meet you Joey talks about you all the time"

Dani smiled "good things I hope"

Joey shook his head "what you think I bad mouth you or something" Joey asked.

Dani laughed a little as she put her coat on, "no I hope you don't"

Joey rolled his eyes and headed for the stairs, "Alexandra Danielle, get your butt down here and say hello to your big brother"

The next thing Joey heard was the thunder of little footsteps, "Happy Birthday I've been waiting for you since Mama and Daddy had to take Kevin to get fixed.

Joey smiled and picked Lexie up, "Thanks Lex, I'm home now till Sunday night" Joey said as Dani let herself out and Lexie eyed Jenna.

"who are you" Lexie asked her voice full of curiosity.

"Lex do you remember Kristi" Joey asked.

"Yeah she used to be your girlfriend" Lexie responded.

"Right, well now Jenna is" Joey replied as Lexie nodded.

"Hi" Jenna said as Joey set his little sister down and she wandered over.

"Hi I'm Alexandra Danielle, but everyone calls me Lexie or Lex" Lexie smiled and hugged Jenna

Jenna Bent down and hugged Lexie Back, "I'm Jen it's nice to meet you"

"You to" Lexie said as the front door opened and Kim, Jimmy and Kevin walked in.

"How's the arm"Joey asked.

"Hurts" Kevin mumbled as Jimmy helped him with his coat.

"go sit in my chair bud it's yours for the night" Jimmy said as he went to hang Kevin's coat.

Kevin nodded and went to the living room to relax.

"Happy Birthday Joey" Kim said as she pulled her coat off and enveloped him in a hug

" Thanks, Mama this is Jen, Jen this is my Mama" Joey said.

Jenna smiled a little nervously, "Hi I'm Jenna but you can call me Jen" Jenna then hugged Kim.

"I'm Joeys Mom or as he calls me Mama, you can call me Kim" Kim said

"It's so nice to meet you Joey has said nothing but nice things about you" Jenna said.

"Awe he tells me about you all the time" Kim said as Jimmy wandered into the kitchen.

"Hi I'm Jen" Jenna said

"Hi I'm Jimmy" Jimmy said as he hugged Jenna.

Kim smiled as she began to pull out food for dinner, "what do you want for dinner Joey"Kim asked.

"Umm can you make Pasta with Aunt Jesse's sauce" Joey asked.

Kim nodded and began to dig through the cabinet, "we don't have the stuff to make Aunt Jesse's but I can try to make Uncle Derek's"

"Alright that sounds good" Joey said as he wrapped Jenna in a hug and kissed her and she back away.

Jenna shook her head, "not in front of your parents"

Joey nodded and smiled dimples and all, "oh come on it's not like they don't kiss in front of me all the time"

Jenna just shook her head, "we'll talk later"

Joey sighed and shrugged his shoulders before walking out of the kitchen clearly annoyed at the situation that had arisen.

Jenna also shook her head and rolled her eyes at the fact that her boyfriend had just left her stranded in the kitchen with his parents who she barely knew.

Kim noticed that joey had left Jenna alone and gave her an apologetic look, sometimes Joey could be just like his father, and was nearly as stubborn and hard headed, "Joe come on don't be like that"

Joey had plopped himself on the couch and was watching whatever Kevin had on the TV clearly trying to tune out the world around him. Jimmy had gone upstairs to shower since had left work to go with Kim when Kevin had gotten hurt.

Jenna just gave Kim a look of defeat and plopped down in a kitchen chair, "he'll come around Kim, at least I hope so this keeps happening though and I'm sick of it" Jenna then reached up and wiped a tear off her face.

Kim turned to the young girl and offered her some advice, "if he's anything like his father it'll take some time to set his head straight, he's not the best with communication sometimes. Jimmy is the same way"

Jenna shook her head, "I didn't even do anything to make him angry I just chose to not share PDA in front of you and Jimmy, it's not necessary"

Kim nodded, "your right it's not he could have waited till we weren't around"

Finally having heard enough from his spot in the living room, Joey walked into the kitchen " I have ears you know,I'm sorry Jen I guess I didn't think about it"

Jenna nodded, "yeah well next time think twice"

Joey let out a laugh before he sat in the chair next to hers, and took her hand in his "I will"

Jenna smiled "good and you really need to work on that temper of yours"

Kim shook her head as Jimmy walked into the kitchen, "good luck with that Jen"

Jimmy raised an eyebrow "what'd I miss"

Kim laughed a little as she put the pasta on the stove "Your son has your temper, attitude and hard headedness down to a t"

Jimmy smiled "well you know like father like son"

Joey nodded "everyone always tells me I'm just like you right down to the dimples"

Kim smiled "you are a spitting image of your father, oh and Carlos called earlier when he saw on Facebook you'd be home he asked me to ask you if you would want to pick up a shift tomorrow and he say's Happy Birthday"

Joey looked up surprised, "really that'd be awesome I need the money, Jen would you care if I worked tomorrow night" Joey asked.

Jenna shook her head, "of course not you can do whatever you want to"

Joey had gotten his EMT certification right out of High School and had spent the summer after his senior year at Paramedic/EMT School, and began working part time for the city over winter break his freshman year, Carlos had seen his name on the list and took him on as a trainee at the 55. Kim told Joey she wouldn't want him to be trained by anyone else and was glad Carlos was going to be his supervisor.

"you need to call him and let him know, and he said any weekend you come home to call him he's been short on medics and can't wait for you to be home in the summer asked me why you don't just start working full time" Kim said

Joey nodded and went to open the fridge to grab a drink, "don't even think about it" Jimmy said as Joey pulled his hand back remembering he wasn't allowed in the fridge.

"You tell him it's because of you" Joey asked.

"Yes I did" Kim replied.

"If I had it my way I'd be working full time as a medic and be on the list to bump up to firefighter" Joey mumbled.

He had gone to FDNY HS for fire and life safety, and got certified to become an EMT and planned to become a paramedic over the summer, he hadn't done it yet because he hadn't had the time.

"he also said he really wants you to take the last course you need and sit for that test" Kim commented, she had been trying to get Joey to finish up and get his Paramedic certification so he would only have to worry about getting his promotion to firefighter.

"I know I'll sign up to take it this summer" Joey replied as he pulled his phone out to call the fire house.

"_Squad 55 Ladder 100"DK said picking up the phone_

"_Uncle Derek it's Joey is Carlos working" Joey asked._

"_Nieto Phone call" DK said_

"_Hello" Carlos said answering the phone._

"_Hey it's Joey I can work tomorrow Joey said._

"_Great" Carlos said._

"_You can call me and let me know when you need me to work and I'll drive home"  
Joey replied._

"_Your mom told me and happy birthday" Carlos said._

"_Thanks" Joey said._

"_See you tomorrow Joey" Carlos said as he hung up._

"_Bye Carlos" Joey said as he did the same._

After Dinner Joey got his surprise from Kim even though he kind of knew what it was already he still loved it. She had made him a heart shaped birthday cake like she did every year. Kim always told Joey that he was her favorite valentines' gift and the best one she had ever gotten.

"Alright Joey did you show Jenna upstairs yet" Jimmy questioned as they began to fall asleep watching a movie.

"Not yet" Joey replied.

"Alright you should probably do that and no she is not staying in your room" Jimmy said.

"Wasn't even going to ask, we share her bed at school sometimes since her roommate went crazy and moved out but that's not often cause I have class at 8am"Joey said as he stood up from the couch.

Jenna stirred as Joey moved, "bedtime" She questioned.

"Yeah if you don't care you're going to have to sleep in Lexies room since she has an extra bed and we don't have a guest room" Joey said.

"That's fine" Jenna said as they made their way up the stairs.

"just be super quiet when you walk into Lex's room she's a light sleeper" Jimmy said watching the 2 college kid's wander up the stairs.

The rest of the weekend went by pretty enjoyed getting to work on Saturday and promised Carlos he'd come back and work when he could but Lacrosse season would be in full swing soon and he didn't know if he'd be home for spring break.


	5. Sweet Summer Time

Disclaimer : I don't own anything,except whatever characters I created outside of the ones created by the writers of third watch and NBC.

Sweet Summer

It was finally the end of the semester,Jenna and Joey were still together and were going on 6 months now. This was the longest Joey had kept a girlfriend,another thing that showed Kim he was just like Jimmy. Before he had met Jenna Joey had been a major player and had a bunch of different girlfriends he had even dated Kara Walsh on and off for a while but Kara's 2 years older and she wanted to to be with someone her own age,that and Joey cheated on her a couple times.

"So you excited to live off campus next year" Derek asked as he packed his side of the room up.

Joey looked up briefly and shook his head, "I guess so but we'll see I may not even come back I may just start working full time"

Derek rolled his eyes, " man finish what you started your already graduating early anyway"

Joey nodded in agreement knowing Derek was right, he had managed to get enough credit's from taking summer classes to graduate in 3 years but that didn't mean he didn't want to start working full time. As it was Jenna was transferring to the community college back home to major in Fashion Design.

Derek began to throw clothes into a duffle bag, when he hurled a shirt in Joey's direction "I think this is yours"

Joey caught the shirt and held it up, it was an FDNY HS basketball tee-shirt, "how did it end up in your draw"

Derek shook his head, "beats me"

Joey nodded and then went to grab the picture frames off his desk. In one frame was a picture of Kim and Jimmy in their dress blues, it had been taken after the Thanksgiving Day parade when Joey was little. The next picture was more current and was of the whole family at the rescue 2 summer barbeque. The next picture was of Joey with his God Parents his Aunt Mel and his dad's best friend Joe Lombardo. There is also a picture of the Doherty family at the last reunion, and of Joey with his parents at his high school graduation. The last picture frame was a gift from Jenna for their 5 month anniversary.

"Come on Joey, let's go I'd like to get home at a decent hour" Kim said as walked in the room to take stuff down to the car. Jimmy had gotten stuck working a double and no one else could come up so Kim had come by herself leaving Lexie and Kevin at home with Lilly who had come home from college a week ago.

Joey turned to Kim and gave her a look that reminded her of Jimmy when he was angry, "come on Mama Give me a little bit of time"

Kim shook her head, "sorry bud but I really want to get home"

Joey just grumbled in response and finished packing up the box he had been filling with his picture frames.

Kim shook her head at him "you are such your fathers boy it's scary"

Joey nodded in response, "you know often I hear that from you and Aunt D"

Kim picked up a box and headed for the door, "Gee Joey I wonder why, you are so much like him it scares me half to death sometimes, you are practically his mini me"

Summer Time

Joey pulled his car up at the 55 and quickly grabbed his bag out of the backseat. He was running late because he had been at Jenna's the night before meeting her family, "your late" Carlos Barked as Joey ran past him.

"Sorry I had to drive from Long Island" Joey mumbled as he ran up the stairs.

Carlos shook his head "change and get down here, your riding with Kelli today"

Joey stopped dead in his tracks and gave Carlos his trademark grin.

"You have a girlfriend" Carlos retorted

"Opps" Joey said as he backed down the stairs noticing a new female paramedic.

"You could have stayed" the new girl chirped walking by.

" I have a girlfriend" Joey mumbled as he went to change.

As Joey threw his uniform on his radio crackled, "Boyd 55-3 take an unknown medical 806 Grand Street apt 8G"

Joey grabbed his radio and responded "Boyd-55-3 unknown medical 806 Grand apt 8G" ,running down the stairs toward the kitchen Joey turned to where Kelli was sitting in the living room, "let's go"

Kelli followed Joey down the stairs to the bus, "who's driving"

"Me" Joey grumbled as he got in the bus.

At the call

"Did you call 911 mam" Joey asked.

"Yeah I'm worried about my neighbor I haven't seen him in a few days, I'm worried he's sick" an old lady replied

Joey nodded and knocked on the door, he then turned to Kelli. "Smell that I think we ought to call PD" Kelli nodded and radioed for assistance.

A couple minutes later 55-David responded, "You called for us" Charlie Yokas asked.

"yeah we got an unknown medical but it smells like well you know" Joey mumbled as Charlie nodded and then knocked on the door himself not getting a response he and his Training Officer kicked the door in only to be greeted by what Joey feared was on the other side of the door a stinker.

"Oh eww I'm going to be sick" Kelli mumbled taking off down the stairs.

Charlie shot Joey a look, "and she's a paramedic"

Joey shook his head at Charlie, "don't even, looks like we're done here enjoy your stinker Yokas"Joey then trotted down the stairs after his partner.

"We gotta another call" Kelli mumbled as she went to the bus.

Joey got in the driver's seat and rolled his eyes, "it's great to be back on the street's I've really missed this".

Kelli nodded, "have you made a decision about School"

Joey shook his head no, "I haven't but my mom wants me to finish at SU and I don't want to, I think I'm gonna quit playing Lacrosse to, I think I out grew it"

Kelli nodded in understanding as Joey drove to their next call which was a fire, "Understandable, what'd your dad say"

Joey pulled the bus up to the curb as they reached their destination, "he told me to do whatever's in my heart do what I want to do"

Kelli nodded and got out of the bus, "then that's what you should do how's Jen"

Joey shook his head, "I'm over her, it's been 7 months and I'm just done I don't know how to walk away from her though"

Kelli rolled her eyes, "7 months is 2 long for you"

Joey nodded as they waited to see if they were needed, "yeah I think I just grew up a little and I'm just not that into her anymore, it sucks because I like her but I just I need to move on"

Kelli nodded in response, "so you going to take the fireman's test"

Joey shook his head, "not yet"

"Medic" a fire fighter shouted and Joey and Kelli ran over to help them, "found her under her bed, she seems okay but probably got smoke"

Joey and Kelli quickly began to check the little girl over, "Kelsie" a women said running over.

"Mama" the little girl said.

"Is she alright" the women asked.

"She is just fine" Joey said as they finished up.

"Medic" another fire fighter called out, "this one's not so good" Damon said

"DOA" Kelli mumbled as the fire fighter hung his head, "it happens Damon but you got him out here"

After the fire everyone headed back to the firehouse, in hopes for a quiet night. Joey really just wanted to sit down with DK and get some advice on what do about his relationship.

Joey took a breath and knocked on DK's office door "Uncle Derek".

DK looked up from his paper work, "what's up Joey"

Joey hung his head as he sat in the chair on the other side of the desk "I need advice"

DK nodded, "what's up"

"Jenna, she told me she loved me and I couldn't say it back,7 months and I couldn't tell her the same thing I just kind of left her house without saying anything and came to work" Joey mumbled.

"Ouch" DK replied.

"You're telling me,I didn't know what to do" Joey replied

"so you want to break up with her and she told you she love you, sounds like you and your girlfriend are on two different pages of a book" Dk replied.

Joey shook his head "more like in different chapter"

Dk nodded, "talk to her Joe, that's all you really can do"

Joey hung his head in response; he really wasn't looking forward to having this conversation with Jenna. They were close and really good together but he just wasn't feeling things anymore. It was great at first to have someone at school and have a special someone but Jenna wasn't coming back to Syracuse and Joey didn't think he wanted to do the long distance thing.

Finally Joey looked up at his uncle with a face full of confusion, "your right I guess I just have to talk to her"

DK nodded, "she'll understand Joey"

"It's just that she's the first girl since Kara who I've cared about" Joey replied.

"and you will find another, trust me on that I thought Meg's mom was it then she left me and Meg,and I found your Aunt D and no one can replace her" DK replied

"I just don't want to do someone what my dad did to my mom, everyone say's I'm just like him in everyway possible and I don't want to be like that" Joey mumbled.

"Joey you are very much like your father in so many ways, but I don't see what happened with your parents happening with you and a women that's where you and your dad are very different, your dad really used to like to be with the ladies but then he realized your mom was his soulmate" DK replied.

"I know Uncle Derek I lived through all that, and it wasn't any fun" Joey replied.

"Alright bud you feel better" DK asked.

"Much, I think I'm gonna go get some sleep maybe call Jenna" Joey replied.

"don't break up with her over the phone" DK warned.

"I won't I just I need to let her know I'm driving back down there in the morning so we can talk"Joey replied.

"You just going to end it" DK asked.

"I think I have to, I don't think I can just let go on" Joey replied.

The next morning Joey drove back to Long island to see Jenna. He wanted to go home first but decided he needed to talk to her. He wanted to end things on good terms and just get it over with.

"Hey you" Jenna said when she let joey in the front door.

"Hey" Joey replied.

"You seem off, and you seemed off on the phone last night what's wrong" Jenna asked.

Joey put his head down and stared at his shoes, "we need to talk"

Jenna nodded, "I was afraid you would say that after what I told you yesterday"

Joey didn't respond as the two made their way to her room so they could talk.

"Don't freeze me out Joey, just talk to me" Jenna said as they sat down on her bed.

Joey looked up at her with hurt in his Brown eyes, "I can't do this anymore Jen"

Jenna looked at him confused, "what do you mean"

Joey took a deep breath, "us Jen I can't do us anymore"

Jenna's face fell and her eyes filled up with tears, "what I told you I loved you"

Joey nodded "I know what you said,and I'm saying I can't do this because I can't say it back,I don't know why but I just can't say it back"

Jenna nodded taking in Joey's word's "so your ending it because you can't say I love you"

Joey shook his head, "no I'm ending it because it's the right thing to do,we're on two different pages of life right now,I'm going back to school in a month and your staying here I don't think I can do the long distance thing"

Jenna nodded, "alright then I guess yesterday was a waste of time everyone loved you by the way"

Joey hung his head, "I loved everyone to they are all real nice but I can't do this Jen it's just not a good idea I don't trust myself"

Jenna pointed to the door, "you can let yourself out Joey, don't be a stranger and call me if your back in the city and you want to hang out"

Joey nodded and started to leave, "keep in touch Jenna-Blenna I've enjoyed the last 7 months"

That night

"You alright kiddo"Kim asked as she spotted her eldest curled up in his father's chair watching car cartoons with his little sister.

"I Broke up with Jen this morning"Joey mumbled.

"Oh no"Kim replied.

"Oh yeah,she told me she loved me and I couldn't say it back so I relized last night at work that things ust needed to end because I couldn't be with her and not feel the same way"Joey replied.

Kim nodded, "that's understandable bud,and there are other fish in the sea"

Joey rolled his eyes, "when I was kid everyone told you that and you never listend"

Kim shook her head, "and if I had you wouldn't have a brother and a sister"

Joey looked at her Puzzled, "you wouldn't have wanted kid's with anyone else"

Kim sat down on the arm of the recliner and gently stroked Lexi's hair, "no because I knew if I wanted you to have siblings I wanted you to have biological siblings"

Joey nodded as Jimmy walked in the door looking exhausted, "you 2 have 20 minutes to finish your cartoons and get your butts out of my chair,where's Kev"?

Kim smiled and turned toward Jimmy, "long shift,Kevin's at Dani'sspending time with Addison"

Jimmy nodded as he pulled his shoes off,"you have no idea,we must have been out almost all night and all day today and yesterday"

"Go get some sleep let the kid's enjoy there cartoons"Kim replied.

"Alright"Jimmy replied heading up the stairs.

Joey spent the rest of the summer working Part time, got his paramedic certification and had plans to get a promotion to fire fighter as soon as he finished college. He decided to stop playing Lacrosse for his last year so he could focus on school. As it was he was going to graduate a year early. Heand Jenna hadn't talked since they Broke up.


	6. Junior Year of college Part 1

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Fall semester Junior Year

Joey walked in the front door of the apartment fresh from an early morning run. He didn't have class till 9 on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and was done at 4,then on Tuesday and Thursday he went from 8 to 5 straight and had a Thursday night lab from 6-9.

Joey had originally planned to finish out school in a year but had changed his mind when he realized he didn't want to give up on Lacrosse. He wanted to finish out school with his friends.

Derek looked up from his spot at the kitchen table "how was your run"

Joey bent to untie his shoes as a black lab puppy ran over to him, "not bad" Joey then reached out and began to pet the puppy.

"You have class at 9 right" Derek asked standing up to wash his dishes.

"Yeah then I'm done at 4 but I have to work tonight" Joey replied.

"Ughh alright" Derek replied.

"Why" Joey asked.

"Nothing now it doesn't matter" Derek said as Joey nodded and went to shower and get ready for the day.

Finally around 8:30 Joey was ready for the day. Normally he would ride his bike to campus but on the days he had to work he drove. He had gotten a job at a local restaurant waiting tables and worked random hours around his class, practice and game schedule.

"Cya guys later" Joey said noticing that his other roommates Kyle and Jake were onw awake.

The guys nodded before grabbing the Xbox controllers and beginning to play NBA live, Joey just shook his head and walked out. Between the four boys they had 6 different gaming systems hooked up the TV, They had a PS3, and a Sega genesis that was Derek's, the xbox360 was Joeys, the n64 and super Nintendo were Jakes and the Wii was Kyle's. Someone was always playing something, "be careful with my controllers".

9:30 pm that night

"You worked late tonight" Kyle said looking up from his book as Joey walked into the apartment.

"Ehh I worked 5 to 9,I have crappy hours this week" Joey replied as he sat down on the couch.

"That sucks" Kyle said.

"Where are Derek and Jake" Joey asked.

"Out" Kyle replied.

Reaching down and turning on the Xbox Joey turned toward Kyle "does that mean you are going out to".

"Yeah it does" Kyle replied standing up.

"Good then I can call Jeslyn" Joey replied.

"Who's Jeslyn" Kyle asked.

"we have a class together and I told her I'd call her to chill sometime" Joey said

Kyle nodded as he headed toward his room, "I'll keep them out as long as possible" Kyle said watching his younger roommate pick up his phone and call Jeslyn.

"_Hello" a voice said_

"_Hi this is Joey is this Jeslyn" Joey asked._

"_Hold on she's next-door let me take her, her phone" the girl said._

"_Alright" Joey replied_

_A couple minutes later a voice Joey recognized was on the other end of the phone, "Hello"_

"_Hi Jeslyn its Joey from Micro Bio I was just wondering if you wanted to hang out" Joey said _

"_Oh my gosh hi, Kat didn't tell me who was on the phone, I'd love to hang out with you" Jeslyn said._

"_Sweet you live on Campus right" Joey asked._

"_Yeah in Flynt" Jeslyn replied._

"_nice I lived there freshman year" Joey replied._

"_Sweet so will you come get me then" Jeslyn asked._

"_Yeah give me like 15 minutes though, my apartment isn't that close to campus" Joey said as he shut off the Xbox._

"_Alright well let me know when you get here" Jeslyn said._

"_of course" Joey replied._

"_Bye Joey" Jeslyn said as she hung up._

After hanging up the phone Joey grabbed a a quick shower and changed into clean clothes and grabbed his hat off his dresser.

20 minutes later

Once outside of Flynt hall Joey called Jeslyn to her know he was there. He got out of his car and waited for her.

"Hey" Jeslyn said when she finally found Joey and the car.

Joey looked up from staring at the pavement, "Hi"

"So what's your plan" Jeslyn asked.

"uhh well I don't really have one I figured we could just hang out at my place and get to know each other my roommates are out so it'll be just us if that's alright" Joey said as he opened the passanger door for Jeslyn.

"Yeah that's fine, we could watch a movie or something" Jeslyn suggested.

"We could do that or well do you like video games of any kind" Joey asked.

"Well Kelli has an N64 and ive played a little but I suck" Jeslyn replied.

"Every played Xbox" Joey asked.

"Yeah my brother has one" Jeslyn said as Joey nodded and began to drive to his apartment.

"Well we have a lot of game systems so if you want we could do that" Joey suggested.

"A movie actually sounds better I really suck at video games" Jeslyn said as Joey nodded.

"Alright well I don't have a lot of movie choices but i know Derek does, so we can pick one from his collection" Joey replied.

"Who's Derek" Jeslyn asked.

"One of my roommates who's on the Lax team with me, he's my best friend I've known him since my freshman year" Joey replied.

"Oh wow so you play lacrosse" Jeslyn asked.

"I've played since I was a kid,I played baseball for awhile but I got into Lacrosse and realized I loved it so I played club baseball and Lacrosse for school till it got to be to much and I quit baseball and focused on Lacrosse" Joey said as he parked his car.

"Oh wow I play field hockey" Jeslyn replied.

"very cool I used to date a field hockey player but she didn't come back to school" Joey Said as he unlocked the door to the apartment.

"no way are you Jens ex-boyfriend" Jeslyn asked as she took her shoes off.

"If I say yes are you going to ask me to take you home" Joey said as he pulled off the sweatshirt he was wearing.

Jeslyn rolled her eyes, "why would I do that Jen and I weren't friends, we barely talked at all she was super quiet but she talked about you a lot, you started to date when" Jeslyn asked.

"Umm last November we weren't even together a year I broke up with her in June" Joey replied.

"Oh wow yeah she talked about for like a month before that, and stuff It was like we all knew you and had never met you" Jeslyn said as she sat on the couch.

"So what movie do you want to watch" Joey asked trying to get off the topic of Jenna.

"Do you have Batman" Jeslyn asked.

"Derek does let me go grab it" Joey said as he headed to Dereks room.

A couple hours later

"So you ready for me to take you back" Joey asked Jeslyn who was curled up next to him half a sleep.

"Can I stay here tonight" Jeslyn asked.

"Umm yeah, you can sleep in my room I'll sleep in Kyle's he has a bunk beds" Joey replied.

The next morning.

"Dude what the hec are you doing up there" Kyle asked

"Jeslyns asleep in my room" Joey said as he climbed down.

"She stayed over" Kyle asked.

"Yeah we were watching Batman and she fell asleep so she asked if she could stay" Joey replied as he walked down the hall to his room, "Hey you ready to head home"

Jeslyn looked up from where she was sitting on Joey's bed, "Yeah,I had fun last night thanks for asking me to hang out" Jeslyn said.

"Anytime and I had fun to" Joey said as they headed out to his car.

2 months later (Late October)

"You have plans for tonight" Jake asked as he made himself dinner and Joey dug through the fridge.

Joey continued digging through the fridge, "I'm picking Jes up and we're going out to eat" Joey replied.

"Nice where" Jake asked.

"Luigi's" Joey replied as he closed the fridge and then reached for the polo that was on the chair behind him.

"Nice have fun" Jake said as he put his dishes in the sink.

"Who's on dish duty" Joey questioned glancing at the chart on the fridge.

"Not me" Jake replied as he to went and looked at the chart on the fridge himself.

"It's Kyle so that means one of us should just do them beause he wont" Joey mumbled as he walked over to the sink and began to run some water on the mountain of dishes.

"Dude you should just leave them" Jake commented as Joey reached for the sponge and began to scrub the dishes. Kyle didn't like to do the dishes so when it was his turn he normally left them for someone else. Which drove Joey nuts because everyone was supposed to pull their weight with the apartment? The chore chart had been Kim's idea and it seemed to work pretty well. They had communal groceries which were paid for with the grocery fund jar on the counter, each person put atleast 5 bucks in each week toward food, so everything was fair game unless you paid for it on your own and it had your name on it. Garbage had to go to the dumpster by Thursday at noon so every Wednesday someone had to take it out. Other things on the chart included cleaning bathrooms , and vacuuming and cleaning up the kitchen and living room. This week Joey was in charge of the living room and the Trash, which had already been done Wednesday.

"If I don't do them I have to do them next week" Joey mumbled in disgust as Kyle emerged from his bedroom dressed to go out, "would it kill you to do the dishes when it's your turn" Joey mumbled as he scrubbed a frying pan clean.

"I was gonna do them tomorrow" Kyle mumbled as he reached for a dry dish towel and started to dry the dishes Joey had finished. As Joey finished up the dishes, his phone rang "call from Babe".

"_Hey you" Joey said answering._

"_Hey when are you coming" Jeslyn asked._

"_I'm on my way now, just gotta put my shoes on" Joey said as he reached for his sneakers, and Sweat Shirt_

"_Alright you can stay here tonight if you want Kat's gone for the weekend" Jeslyn said._

"_I was thinking about it but I have to work in the morning" Joey said sitting down on the couch next to Otto the black lab puppy he had adopted. _

"_Ughh alright do you think someone could drop me off at my building in the morning" Jeslyn asked._

"_if you don't mind getting up at 9:30 I'll be able to bring you back" Joey said as he reached over and petted the dog._

"_Did you want to go out to eat tonight" Jeslyn asked._

"_That was my plan why" Joey asked._

"_I have a lot of home work could we do a study date instead" Jeslyn asked._

"_Yeah we can do that,I guess I'l just stay with you tonight then and bring my work clothes with me"Joey replied._

"_You sound like you don't want to so I can just stay at your place it's fine"Jeslyn replied._

"_Alright don't say I didn't offer" Joey replied as he walked out the door._

"_Bye"Jeslyn said hanging up._

Joey turned back inside as he hung up, "Otto want to go for a ride" The once calm puppy shot off the couch and toward his owner. "sit" Joey instructed as he reached for the leash hung by the door.

December end of finals week and home for break

Jeslyn climbed into the passengers seat of Joeys car and smiled," I can't wait to meet your family".

Joey nodded as he finished checking the car's oil and everything else to make sure the car was ready for the drive home. Jeslyn was going home with Joey for a week and then going back up to Syracuse with him before driving home to South Carolina. Joey was spending most of his winter break in Syracuse because of work. He would be back home for Christmas and New Years but then he had to go back up and work for the rest of his break. "I can't wait to see them since I was only home for like a day at thanksgiving and I missed Lexies and Kevins birthdays"Joey said as he threw his duffle bag into the back seat and then got in the car himself.

"Right because of work" Jeslyn commented.

About3 and a half hours into the drive Joeys phone began to ring "Call from Mama".

"_Hey" Joey said._

"_Hey where you" Kim asked._

"_Just coming into the city,where is everyone" Joey asked._

"_We're at Uncle Billys" Kim replied._

"_Alright umm we're gonna head to our house cause I'm exhausted" Joey replied._

"_Alright everyone wants to meet Jes though" Kim said._

"_She'll be with us for a week, I don't want to overwhelm her to much with family right away"Joey replied._

"_Alright your sister will be home from school soon could you get her off the bus"Kim asked._

"_Yeah sure" Joey replied._

"_Your brother will need to get picked from school he stayed late" Kim said._

"_I am not a sibling taxi" Joey mumbled._

"_Joey please if you don't want to come here I need you to do that for me" Kim asked._

"_I guess so when do I get Kev" Joey asked._

"_Now, Lex doesn't get home for an hour" Kim replied._

"_Alright see you soon I hope" Joey said _

"_Love you bunches we wont be long and Aunt D says to stop being a brat" Kim commented._

"_Tell Aunt Danielle that this brat just drove for 4 and a half hours and he's tired"Joey said as he hit Trafic on his way into Brooklyn._

"_I will" Kim said_

"_well I'm in traffic I gotta go" Joey said _

"_alright love you kiddo" Kim said._

"_love you to" Joey said hanging up._

Eventully traffic let up and Joey was able to get to the high school and pick up his brother and make it home to get his sister off the bus.


	7. Kim and Jimmy meet Jes

Disclaimer I own nothing

"Hello" Kim called out as she and Jimmy walked into the house. They knew everyone was home because Joeys car was in the driveway and there were suitcases and backpacks left untouched in the foyer.

"Hi mama" Lexie said from the living room.

"Hey you where are your brothers" Kim asked as Jimmy took his shoes off and hung up their coats.

"Joey and Jes are upstairs taking a nap and Kevins doing homework" Lexie replied.

"Alright" Kim said as shot jimmy a look that indicated he needed to go upstairs, and check on everyone.

"I got a yellow light at school today" Lexie mumbled handing Kim the note.

"Why" Kim asked as she opened the envelope, "Lexie Loo you can't keep pushing kids at school" Kim scolded.

"Kyle was mean to me,he told me that wanting to be just like daddy when I grow up was dumb" Lexie mumbled.

"Lex just because someone thinks something is dumb doesn't mean you can push them and you can do whatever you want when you grow up,but no more yellow lights and definitely not another red one okay" Kim said kissing the seven-year olds forehead.

Meanwhile upstairs

Once upstairs Jimmy checked on Kevin and then made his way to Joeys room,where he found his oldest and his girlfriend asleep.

"Joey" Jimmy whispered.

"Hmm" Joey mumbled.

"Wake up" Jimmy whispered.

"I'm awake" Joey groaned sitting up.

"we just wanted to let you know that we're home but you should probably come downstairs and introduce your girlfriend to your parents" Jimmy replied as Joey nodded.

"Give us 5 minutes"Joey asked.

"ofcourse"Jimmy said as he stepped out of the room and headed back downstairs.

10 minutes later Joey and Jeslyn came downstairs both in clean clothes,they had been in Pajamas because they had left Syracuse around 10 after they had woken up.

"Mama this is Jes,Jes this is my Mama Kim" Joey said

"Hi it's so nice to meet you"Jeslyn said as she hugged Kim.

"you to it's nice to finally get to meet you,after hearing so much about you since September"Kim said.

"Jes this my dad Jimmy,Dad this is Jes"Joey said as Jes hugged Jimmy.

"its nice to meet the 2 people who have made Joey who he is,he talks about you guy's all the time and tells me everyone tells him he's so much like his dad"Jeslyn said smiling

Jimmy nodded," he does here that quite a bit but he's a lot like his mother to"Jimmy said.

"he has more of you in him than he does me"Kim replied.

Enough,we'll be here for a week and then I'll be back for Christmas and New years but then I have to work for a week before I come back and then classes start so I wont be home much"Joey commented as he sat down at the table.

Kim nodded as she began to look for stuff for dinner, "how about Chicken for dinner for dinner"Kim said as she pulled it out of the fridge.

"Chicken sounds good can you grill it"Joey asked

Jimmy nodded, "yeah I can do that".

Kim handed Jimmy the chicken and then got a bag of veggies out of the freezer.

After Dinner everyone began to wind down,including Otto who had been nothing but excited since they had gotten home.

Eyeing the puppy curled up with her eldest and his girlfriend Kim laughed a little, "he finally crashed".

Joey nodded and petted Otto on the head, "it usally takes a while for that to happen".

Over the next week Jeslyn got to meet more of Joeys family and friends. Joey took her on a group date with Lilly and her new boyfriend and Meg and her fiancé and also took her to the firehouse to meet everyone there.


	8. Working,vacations and a break up

Disclaimer : I dont own anything

"So what's going to happen with you and Jes this summer" Derek asked as he and Joey played Xbox.

Joey paused the game and set down his controller, "umm well we're going to stay together and try the distance thing"

Derek nodded, "you guys will make it"

Joey reached for his phone, and quickly answered text, "I hope so I think I love her man"

"How long have you been with her" Derek asked

"since September, but I haven't ever felt this way about a girl man and Jen and I were together for almost 7 months and I never said I love you, I dated Kara on and off for 2 years and I said I love you and she dumped me" Joey replied.

"I don't think Jes is going to walk away" Derek commented standing up from the couch and eyeing the garbage that was over flowing, "Dude who was on trash duty this week".

"Kyle" Joey replied as he wandered into the kitchen.

"Man if we don't take that out it won't get done on time" Derek mumbled as he pulled the garbage bag out and then checked the rest of the garbage cans. Kyle wasn't the best at keeping up with the roommate chore chart, so sometimes the guys picked up his slack.

Otto was curled up on his bed in the living room taking the scene and waiting for Joey to go for his late night run so he could go with him.

"Otto let's go boy run time" Joey said as he helped Derek with the garbage.

1 month later

"So where is Jes moving next year" Derek asked.

"She got an apartment with Kelli,Becca,and Dana"

" Joey you almost packed your dad and uncle are here" Jes said walking into the apartment.

"I am all packed Lover, just got to start to take things down to the car" Joey replied.

Joey was moving home for the summer but not back into his parents' house, he had found an apartment for the summer close to the firehouse and he was going to live there. As part of growing up he felt he needed to be out on his own at home to. He was moving in with his cousin Meg,because Meg's roommate had moved out.

"Alright" Jes said as she stood up on her toes for a Kiss. Joey was almost a foot taller than her so she always had to stand on her toes if he didn't pick her up off the ground or lean down. See Jes stand on her Toe's Joey bent down and kissed her.

"You all packed" Jimmy asked as walked in followed by DK.

"Yeah my rooms all done and I filled my car" Joey replied.

2 hours later everything that Joey had in the apartment was all packed into Jimmy's truck and his car. He was moving into Meg's apartment in the morning.

3 weeks later

"What time did you get home last night" Meg asked as she looked from her spot on the couch.

"I don't know it was late there was a big fire and we got busy" Joey mumbled as he reached for the coffee pot.

"You working today" Meg asked.

Joey nodded, "when haven't I worked in the last 2 weeks, Carlos keeps continually scheduling me and giving me doubles I don't want to work" Joey mumbled.

Meg nodded, "so tell him then that you're working too much".

Joey shook his head, "complaining will go nowhere"

Meg stood and walked to the kitchen, "when is your next day off"

Joey sighed, "I have no idea, but I'm seriously sick of pulling double's"

Meg closed the fridge and made her way back toward the living room, "alright well you get some sleep before 3,and I have to go work so I'll probably see you at some point".

Meg was a nurse at Mercy and worked in the ER.

Joey nodded, "yeah I'm sure you will I have to work another double"

Meg grabbed her bag and headed out the door, "have fun with that".

At work

"You're not working next week right" Carlos asked

Joey shook his head as he ran upstairs to change, "no I'm not I'm going to Myrtle Beach to see my girlfriend"

"So you're not going on the family beach trip"DK called up the stairs

"No I am but that's not for a while" Joey replied as he quickly got changed for work.

2 hours later

"Have you left at all" Logan asked walking into the kitchen

Joey and Carlos looked from their spots at the kitchen table and shook their heads "shah" Joey then knocked on the wooden table as to no jinx the quietness of the shift.

"Don't say that Logan" Joey replied as he got up and wandered over to the refrigerator grabbing the container with his name on it that was full of left over mac and cheese.

"Who's cooking tonight" Logan asked.

Joey put his mac and cheese in the microwave and then turned to grab a bottle of water, "the new guy". As Joey sat back down at the table his radio crackled, "you're kidding me".

Carlos stood up, "Let's go".

The rest of the night was nonstop and back to back calls, there were 3 big fires and 2 big accidents. Joey was completely wiped out by the time he got to leave at 8 am the next morning.

"You have the night off go enjoy yourself" Carlos said as they got ready to leave.

Joey sighed in relief "I was hoping you would say that I'm going to my parents for the weekend, before I leave for South Carolina, and I'm turning my phone off as soon as I get there".

Carlos laughed, "You are aware I have your parents' home phone number".

Joey groaned and rolled his eyes, "seriously I don't want to come in unless I have to I'm so wiped out from the last 2 weeks of non-stop working"

Carlos nodded, "point made I'll only call if it's absolutely necessary"

Joey nodded pulling his uniform top off and putting on a t-shirt, "good I'm going to get some serious sleep".

At Kim and Jimmy's

"You look beat" Kim commented eyeing her oldest who was watching cartoons with her youngest.

"that's because Carlos has had me working like Crazy this is my first afternoon shift off in like a week and a half and he has had me pulling doubles" Joey mumbled as he drifted off to sleep.

Kim laughed, "you poor thing, don't you like the money though so you can pay rent".

"Being a big sucks but I figured I should get used to it since I'm almost done with college anyway, and Jes still has another year" Joey mumbled.

Kim nodded and walked out of the livingroom. Her oldest boy was growing up and it was starting to show, he hadn't been home since he moved out, and it was clear to her he was ready to be done with school, start working and live on his own.

The Drive to South Carolina

After spending two days at his parents' house visiting, Joey left for Jeslyn's house from there. It was 10 hour drive so he decided to drive to drive over night.

Joey was just getting into Myrtle Beach when his phone rang "call from Babe"

_"Hey you" Joey said putting Jeslyn on speaker phone as he reached for his sun glasses._

_"Hey where are you at" Jeslyn asked._

_"Just got into Myrtle Beach I took a detour to Duck this morning to watch the sun come up from the beach"Joey replied._

_"Of course you did, well I'll see you soon"Jeslyn replied_

_"I'm in the driveway"Joey said hanging up._

A couple seconds later the front door flew open and Joey was greeted by his girlfriend, "Hey you, so I should probobly mention that Henry is home"Jeslyn replied as Joey raised an eyebrow at her, "My older brother".

"Lovely"Joey said as he got out of the car and wrapped his girlfriend in a hug.

Jeslyn was 5'4 with a lot of curly blonde hair and ocean blue eyes, she was definitely the girl of Joey's dreams and he was lucky to have found her.

" my parents aren't home yet they are getting in from Hilton Head tomorrow, Henry was hoping you brought your golf clubs, I have plans with Natalya later so you should hang out with Henry and get to know him"Jeslyn said as Joey saw a guy appear in the doorway of the house as they began to walk toward the porch, "Henry this is Joey,Joey this is Henry".

Joey stuck his hand out, "Nice to meet you".

Henry nodded and shook Joeys hand, "nice to meet you to,Jes talks about you a lot" Henry replied.

"Good thing I hope"Joey replied.

"Yeah lots of good things" Henry said as they headed inside the house.

"Good to know and I did bring my golf clubs but I'm not very good I don't play much being from the city and all" Joey commented.

"Brooklyn right" Henry asked.

" Well sort of I grew up there but I was born in Queens"Joey replied.

"Joey do you want something to eat, you've been driving for an awful long time"Jeslyn asked.

Joey nodded, "food sounds good I haven't eaten in a few hours".

Jeslyn led him to the kitchen, "I can make Mac and Cheese".

"I'm kind of sick of Mac and Cheese that's all I eat at work because I'm picky about who's cooking"Joey replied.

"Alright what about Grilled Cheese"Jeslyn asked.

Joey nodded looking around the large kitchen, "Grilled Cheese sounds really good".

"Jeslyn,don't let the size of this place deceive you, we don't have a guest room so you have to sleep on the couch my parents won't let you sleep in my room it's not like at your house"Jeslyn replied.

"it's fine babe I'm just happy to be here with you and away from work for a week, I need the time away I've been working like crazy" Joey commented as he sat down at the table.

"So I guess we never talked about what's happening after you graduate"Jeslyn said.

"we still have a year but my plan would be to stay where you are, I do want to go back to the city and become a firefighter but I'll do that if you want to move to the city"Joey replied.

"Sounds good"Joey said.

On the golf course

"So you and my baby sister huh" Henry said as they drove to the 9th hole of the front nine.

"Yeah me and your sister, and don't tell her but I love her man, she's my best friend my other half and the girl I want to love for the rest of my life" Joey replied.

"You tell her yourself"Henry said.

"Oh I plan to"Joey said.

"When"Henry asked.

" Well I don't know yet, I think want to ask her when we are with my family on the outer banks but I need to talk to your dad first" Joey replied.

"Absoloutly,and I know she loves you to" Henry replied as they teed off.

Sunset

"I love you" Joey whispered as he and Jes watched the sun set

Jeslyn smiled and then wrapped her arms around her boyfriend "aww Joey I love you to, I can't see being with someone else ever"

Joey nodded and pulled Jes closer, "baby you mean the world to me"Joey replied.

The rest of the week flew by quick and before Joey knew it he had to drive home and go back to working.

At the fire house

"So how was vacation" Gibbs asked.

Joey turned toward his friend as he grabbed a bottle of water, "I miss my girlfriend already"

Gibbs nodded, "I'm sure so when are you going to make the move to fire fighter"

Joey shook his head as he sat down at the table, "not till after college and after Jeslyn's all done, I'm not sure where I'm going to be after she graduates"

Gibbs rolled his eyes, "you should move home after graduation and work, get some money for when she has finished school, you can't keep waiting tables in Syracuse knowing you have an opportunity down here I understand that you would be doing that for her but come on man"

Joey took a breath, "your right but I guess we'll see where everything goes, I still have another year of school she still has 2 more years"

DK wandered into the kitchen, "thank god it's a slow night"

Joey nodded, "that goes for myself and Kelli also" Joey mumbled.

DK raised a brow, "you're not with Carlos today"

Joey shook his head, "rookie's training"

"That's right, I forgot" DK mumbled heading back to his office.

"Squad 55 Boyd 55-3,Adam 55-3,respond to an MVa Arthur and 104th"

As soon as the alarm sounded the once quiet firehouse turned upside down as everyone ran down the stairs.

"What the he happened" Joey asked as he got out of the bus

"Punch bug ran the light and hit the van, and then the red car rear ended the punch bug and the black car hit the van" Charlie Yokas said.

The fire fighters began to work quickly, "Joey Kelli over here" Gibbs called out.

Joey and Kelli quickly ran over to the fire fighter and began to work on the patient, ",we need another set of hands Carlos" joey called.

"New kid goes help Doherty" Carlos snapped at the rookie who kept getting in his way, the rookie nodded and ran over.

"What can I do" the rookie asked.

"go to the bus and grab some more 4 by 4s"Kelli quipped as they tried to stop the woman's head from bleeding, she was unconscious and the F was in the middle of trying to free her from her punch bug.

When the new kid didn't come back right away Joey dropped what he was doing and ran to the bus, "if you don't know where something is don't hesitate to ask" Joey reached in and grabbed the 4 by 4's, "what's your name".

"Dan Collins" The rookie replied as they ran back over to Kelli.

"I'm Joey Doherty" Joey said as the new kid nodded.

As the shift went on Joey realized that Gibbs was right, he was doing what he loved even though he had another full year of school left he was going to have a job when he finished and he could count on it. This realization was going to throw a wrench into his relationship and he wasn't sure how Jes would handle it.

2 weeks later In Dennis Mass

"Joey will you come swim with me" Lexie asked as Joey lay out on a beach towel

"Lex I don't feel like it ask Billy" Joey mumbled.

"BJ will you swim with me" Lexie asked.

"Sure kid" Billy Jr replied standing up from his beach chair.

The Dohertys,Kitson's,Walsh's,Nieto's and Lombardo's made a trip to Cape Cod every year,ocassionally Bosco would tag along with his wife Jesse and their 2 kids.

"Thank you" Lexie replied.

"Come on kiddo lets go before I change my mind" Billy Jr said.

Jeslyn flipped over on her towel and glanced at her boyfriend," you couldn't take your sister in the ocean".

Joey shook his head, "I don't like the ocean much"

Jeslyn nodded her head and went back to her book, none of the adults were at the beach yet it was just the kids for now. JJ was building a sand castle, Bosco's oldest Lauren (13) was sitting in her beach chair reading, and 2 of his youngest Adam (10) and Michael (7) were in the ocean with BJ Kevin was sitting by Lauren reading. DK and Dani's kid's Meg,Lilly,Addison and Rachel were all either sitting in their beach chairs or laying on their towels.

" When we were kids you always went in the water" Rachel interjected.

"Alright maybe I'm just a little lazy" Joey mumbled.

Later that day

"Who tracked sand in" Kim questioned grabbing for the broom.

Jimmy laughed a little, "That would be your daughter".

Kim shook her head, "of course it was", Kim swept up the sand and Jimmy went to go make sure Lexie was showering off.

Meanwhile Joey and Bosco were sitting out on the deck talking about life and relationships, Jes was upstairs changing into normal clothes.

"So how'd you know you loved Jesse" Joey asked.

"well it just kind of happened, I mean we had a lot of history before we got married and had Lauren though a lot of on and off and on and off which was really bad" Boscor replied taking a sip of his beer.

Joey nodded, "I'd talk to my dad but he always tells me that he and mom just happened and it doesn't really help me out, I love Jes but I'm just so stuck because she has 2 more years of school left and I have 1 and I think I want to come back and get my promotion to fire fighter when I finish school" Joey said.

Bosco nodded trying to understand where Joey was coming from" Joey you need to live out your dreams and hers to, what is majoring in? What does she think she wants to do"

Joey dropped his head and began to look at his toes "Biology Pre-med she thinks she wants to go to school down here somewhere"

"it sounds like after you graduate you should talk to her maybe you both need to do your own things for a while and come back to each other" Bosco replied.

"I don't think I should be thinking about all of this so soon because we could break up between now and May but I don't see that happening" Joey mumbled.

Bosco nodded, "you will figure it all out kid I promise"

The rest of the week flew by and before Joey knew it he was back at work and now out of know where his relationship with Jeslyn had hit a snag. It seemed that after they had said 'I love you' things were very different and now Joey found himself starting to stray from his relationship. He and Kara had reconciled and now Joey didn't know what he wanted.

A weekend home

Joey walked into his parents' house and let the front door slam behind him, he had just gotten off of work and off the phone with Jes. They had gotten into yet another argument and at this point Joey was done and over her but he didn't want to let go.

Hearing the door slam Jimmy came into the foyer where he found his eldest pulling his shoes still dressed in uniform, "what's wrong with you" Jimmy asked.

Joey shook his head and rolled his eyes, "Women that's my problem"

Jimmy laughed a little, "what happened"

Joey groaned as he unbuttoned his uniform top, "she's pissed because she was going to come up this weekend but Carlos asked me to work so I'm working all weekend".

Jimmy nodded in understanding, "wasn't she planning to visit for a while"

Joey looked up at his father as he sat on the couch, "well yeah but Carlos didn't plan on the new kid from days quitting and now everyone is working crazy hours until downtown fills the position"

Jimmy sat down his chair, "understandable so is she still coming"

Joey shut his eyes and leaned back, "She's almost here because I didn't know I was working until way after she began to drive and she refused to turn around and go home so now she's going to be here all weekend and I'm working 7-11 on Saturday and Sunday and can't trade it off"

"Well that sucks, I think maybe you and her need to have a conversation you know, you and Kara are getting close right" Jimmy asked.

Joey nodded, "I just need space from Jes"

The next few weeks proved to be crucial in Joey's relationship with Jes, They had begun to figure out exactly where each of them stood and how the summer had changed what they had at school. Joey had spent his summer out of his parents' house growing up and working fulltime, Jeslyn had spent her summer sitting at the beach and doing nothing. Jeslyn knew she still wanted to be with Joey but Joey was the one who was unsure of everything, in the end Jeslyn made the decision to break up with Joey because she couldn't be with someone who was completely unsure of what they wanted. It didn't take Joey long to move on and get back with Kara.


End file.
